The Book of a Few (30 page)

“
Yeah. I just can’t
believe
the servicemen have my notebook to begin with.” I shook my head. “There is no way I dropped it. They
must
have gotten into my bag and stolen it.”

“
That’s not impossible. What are you going to do now? Do you want me to drop you off somewhere?”

I laughed. “Take me back to Readlyn, I guess.”

“
I can’t do that,” Dana said.

“
Why?”

“
If I drop you off in Readlyn, to the north, I’ll have to turn back around and head south until I hit the interstate. I’d be doubling back and waste my limited amount of gas. I
do
have over fifteen hundred miles to drive.”

“
Well I sure as shit can’t stay in town with the C.V.P.M. gunning for my head,” I said, and at that same time, I knew what Dana was going to say.

“
You can always come with me. I’ve got everything all packed in the back,” he said.

Yep, I knew it. After a long and heavy sigh, I answered bitterly, “If you can’t get me to Readlyn, I might as well.”

I turned to look out the window of the car; it’d been a while since I’d been out of town. I intended on keeping my eyes affixed to the glass to hide from Dana’s prying eyes. It was a self-protective front. He was getting what he wanted, a partner to travel across the country with. The disappearance of my original notebook and the C.V.P.M. getting ahold of it, as well as Dana being right there to scoop me up on the side of the road in my time of trouble, are all too convenient for him. Convenient enough to make me suspicious of him, and I don’t want him to see that’s how I feel. Not yet. If I find out what I’m thinking is true, I’ll kill him.

“
It will probably take three or four days to get there if we have to stop. With you here, and minimal stops, we could probably make it in two if we switch seats and keep driving,” Dana suggested.

“
I hate long car rides,” I explained. “We can try, but I can’t promise that I will retain any sanity.”

Dana chuckled. “If they aren’t at the house, I want to begin looking for any fallout shelters. It might take us a while to find them.”

“
We can’t just wander around forever, Dana.”

“
I know that. With the food we have, we could probably search for three to five days. After that, we either need to settle somewhere, or head back.”

“
Agreed. What’s the name of the town they live in?” I asked.

“
Newberry Springs. The fastest and only roadway I know by memory takes us through a few big towns. I’d like to avoid attention, but we have to drive through Des Moines, then Omaha, Denver, and finally Las Vegas.”

“
I’m more worried about people than infected,” I groaned. “Big towns are probably starving by now. We shouldn’t stop around them.”

“
That’s what I was thinking.”

By this point in our conversation, we had already made it onto the interstate. To my surprise, within an hour of our journey, we passed an oncoming car. It was nice, honestly. It was like the world was trying to tell us that it was still alive. Maybe at a crawling pace, but it was still pushing forward. Trying to adapt and find ways to survive. I wish the person driving that car the best of luck. I hope they make it to their destination.

We just passed through Des Moines, and it was
mostly
uneventful. Abandoned vehicles were scattered along the road like sprinkles on a cake. One of the infected noticed us when Dana tried to squeeze the car between an SUV and a bus. I was just watching the right side of our car when the zombie slammed into one of the bus’s windows. It tried to pummel its way out, but we managed to get through without spending too much time to see if it did. Since then, we haven’t had any problems. Not even a pit stop.

I’m going to recline and try to rest for a while. Dana wants me to drive around nine or ten o’clock, so I had better take a nap. I’ve never been a fan of driving at night, and I don’t want to be the cause of any failure to reach California. It seems weird thinking that I’m going to California. But it’s the beginning of another chapter, I guess.

I understand that this doesn’t
have
to be a bad thing. I could just move on from the Warehouse and forget about it, but I can’t. I’m leaving behind the only people and places that tie me to anything
normal
. Branden, the Warehouse, and Cedar Falls. That’s all I have, right there, and all of it is going to be more than fifteen hundred miles away from me. God help me, because this is not where I want to be.

Over and over I keep asking myself,
How did it get to this?
and I never answer myself back. It would be a waste of time to tell myself the answer I already know. Dana is a smart guy. He’s also manipulative. But Dana keeps a log of his own, I know. Maybe he is as foolish as me and writes everything down in it. I just need a clue that points the blame on him, but I want a confession.

Dana, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that as I am writing this, you are sitting right next to me. If there is ever a time I have contemplated the process of justifying cold-blooded murder, you should know that it is now. You, sir, set me up. You gave the C.V.P.M. my notebook because you needed someone to come with you to California. You turned me in, like it was my fault Bruce is dead when you’re the one that made the call. You’ve destroyed everything I’ve fought for over the last two weeks, and it will more than likely cost me my life. I’m on to you.

——

I only got two hours of sleep. Dana woke me up around six p.m. as we were coming up on Omaha. The city was more desolate and destroyed than I had anticipated. A charred gasoline tanker was tipped on its side amidst a pileup, and the fire had spread to the other vehicles surrounding it. People sitting in their seats were burnt to a red and black husk. Some were children.

Just after crossing a bridge that led into town, Dana pointed out a peculiar sign. Someone had written a message on the siding of a motel in big red letters. It read “HELP. 8/5/13.
” That was yesterday. Dana squinted his eyes as he surveyed the area ahead for an off ramp. He began letting the car slow down.

“
It’s not worth it,” I said. “We are fine on the road. If we stop, we don’t know what will happen. This is foreign territory.”

“
We’ll be all right. I just want to check it out,” Dana said.

“
Your curiosity is going to kill us!”

“
Someone could be in real trouble. What good are we when we have an opportunity to help someone in need and decide not to?”

“
That’s unusually
moral
for you, Dana,” I said.

Dana glared me down.

We drove into the parking lot and parked the car. “It could be a trap!” I said.

Dana got out of the car anyway. “You coming with?” he asked.

I groaned and got out, too. The doors to the hotel rooms faced outside along the side of the building. We walked along the first side of the building with no signs of anyone. As we walked to the other side of the building, I double-checked my rifle. I kept my eyes looking outward toward the surrounding buildings. The back of the hotel was also lined with rooms. Each door was accompanied by only one window, and only one door was marked with a red ‘x’.

“
Who would do that?” I whispered to Dana. “Leavening a big ‘x’ is like saying ‘I’m in here, come steal all my stuff.’”

“
Just shut up,” Dana whispered back.

He held his handgun up as we approached the door. Dana pressed his back against the wall for a moment. He turned his head to glance inside the small window.

“
I can’t see anything. I’m opening it,” he said.

Before I had any time to talk sense into him, his hand had already extended to the doorknob and had begun pushing the door open. I stood behind him in silence. A moment passed with the door fully open, and nothing happened. Dana took a step inside and then turned to me.

“
You’re going to want to see this,” he said.

Dana did not seem alarmed or threatened by the contents of the hotel room, so I followed him. The interior was dingy, and the carpet was marked with stains of settled blood. The two other men present in the room remained unresponsive as we walked inside. One lay on the bed, which was cleared of all but one pillow and a sheet. The second man sat extended backwards on an armed chair. The seated man had nothing but bandages wrapped around his left leg. The man in the bed had bloodied cloth over one side of his face and around his head. I wondered in my silent thoughts what had happened to these two men.

Both wore the same outfit that is standard among military personnel. Two Kevlar helmets sat on a small coffee table next to the bed’s comforter, which had been wadded and tossed to the side. I examined the bedridden man first. His face was scruffy, and I could see the edge of a large crusted wound along the rim of his bandage that covered a large portion of his face. I pulled a corner back, and released the protective dressing after only seeing another inch of the wound. I had seen enough to know that it was bad.

“
Check for pulses,” Dana said as he took a step toward the sitting man.

The stranger gripped his gun that rested across his lap as he sluggishly awoke. He struggled to raise the firearm to his shoulder, and with his other hand he reached into a pocket for a moment before extending it to the forestock of his gun. Dana was quick and pulled his handgun up to eye-level and pointed it at the man’s head.

The wounded man tried to speak, but only an unintelligible mumble was produced. He cleared his throat with a harsh cough and said, “Put your gun down.”

“
You first, sir,” Dana said.

The stranger sighed. “Food. Do you have any food?”

“
I’m not saying.”

“
Did you come to help or take, then?”

“
Hopefully a bit of both. Do you think that vest would fit a big guy like me?” Dana asked.

“
No, Dana. They obviously need it more than us,” I interjected.

“
No.” Dana scowled at me. “They
obviously
need medicine more than they need those vests, Chester.”

The man’s eye’s burst into a flame of desperation. “What do you have? I need antibiotics, burn cream, painkillers, and a proper sling.”

“
We might have some of those…” Dana trailed off in thought. “Chester, go take a peek in the car.”

“
If you can get me three of those and some food,” he paused, “I’ll give you all the extra equipment I have on me.” The man broke into another fit of coughs.

Just as I reached the door, Dana said, “Now, can we put our guns down?”

I turned down the sidewalk and headed around the building, all the while contemplating this occurrence. I remember thinking that these two military men did not seem to be C.V.P.M. at all, so I could rest at ease in that sense. Where had these men come from, and what had happened to them?